GREAT LAKES LEARNING

LESSONS & ACTIVITIES BASED ON THE

MONTHLY GREAT LAKES NOW PROGRAM
EPISODE 1030 | POLITICAL BLIND DATE

THE POWER OF PERSPECTIVE

Image Credit: Great Lakes Now

OVERVIEW WHAT YOU'LL NEED

This lesson will provide students opportunities to build Computer or
mobile device with
perspective and empathy as they explore multiple points of
Internet access to
view on a common issue by observing, and participating in view video and
discussions, of issues with people from different points of online resources
view. In doing so, they will explore and interpret different Notebooks and
pencils
sources of information for point of view, context, bias, frame
Chart paper
of reference, or perspective, as well as articulate their Sticky notes
perspective on the issue after being informed about it. Markers
Devices for
LESSON OBJECTIVES recording and
uploading video to
Know the threat that lead pollution and nuclear waste
the web
disposal pose to water quality and human health Copies of the
Understand how point of view, context, bias, and frame Student Handouts
of reference all can affect one's perspective
Be able to articulate your own individual perspective on
an issue as well as take the perspectives of others on
the same issue through research, listening, and
communication by conducting a pinwheel discussion.
 GREAT LAKES LEARNING • EPISODE 1030

INTRODUCTION
In this lesson, students will be
NGSS
introduced to different perspectives on
CONNECTIONS
two contemporary human activities that Phenomenon: Water Quality
can impact water quality: infrastructure SEP-6 MS-ESS3.C
maintenance and the storage and SEP-7 MS-ESS3-1
disposal of nuclear waste from a power SEP-1 MS-ESS3-2
plant. Since many issues that affect MS-ETS.B.3 MS-ESS3-4
public health, safety, and our
environment are complex, it is During the course of the lesson,
important to consider multiple sides of students will progress through the
an issue to understand the full picture following sequence** of activities:
and to inform potential solutions.
Class discussion to elicit or activate
Students will learn about the impact of prior knowledge
the Flint Water Crisis and a proposal to Teacher notes on water pollution,
store nuclear nuclear waste products in nuclear waste, and perspective
a facility on the shores of Lake Huron. Perspective-taking exercises
Watch a Great Lakes Now episode
Some prior knowledge* with which Class discussion to debrief the video
students should be familiar includes: Conduct a Pinwheel Discussion
Claim, evidence, reasoning (CER) Read about the water quality and
Conducting background research nuclear waste issues in the video
The chemistry of ions and isotopes Watch a documentary on the Flint
Water Crisis (optional)

The lesson progresses through three

major sections: launch, activities, and

closure. After the launch of the lesson

sequence, you are ready to begin the

lesson activities. Once finished with the

activities, students will synthesize their

learning in the closure section.

Follow this QR Code or hyperlink to the If you use this lesson or any of its activities
Episode Landing Page!

with your learners, we'd love to hear about it!
*Check out our online collection of lessons for

more activities related to these topics. Contact us with any feedback or questions at:

GreatLakesNow@DPTV.org
**The sequence of these activities is flexible, and
can be rearranged to fit your teaching needs.

GREATLAKESNOW.ORG/EDUCATION —2— MICHIGANLEARNING.ORG

 GREAT LAKES LEARNING • EPISODE 1030
TEACHER BACKGROUND INFORMATION
by Great Lakes Now Contributor, Gary G. Abud, Jr.
*This information can be presented by the teacher as
notes to students at the teacher's discretion.
When having conversations of any kind,
everyone brings a perspective to the
discussion. Simply stated, a perspective
is how one sees things. Similarly, point
of view is the place from where one
sees things from. Both matter a lot.
Yet perspective is shaped by thoughts,
feelings, and emotions; furthermore,
point of view can be affected by our
experiences or our communities. And
when having crucial conversations
about important matters, it is especially
important not only to understand our
own perspective but that of others, too.
Based on understanding one another,
and empathizing with one another, we
can have better more productive
conversations. What's more is it helps us
to treat others with dignity and respect.
And since people shape the laws and
policies that structure our communities,
perspective matters for more than just
our opinions—it can affect our lives, too.
Depending on the age of your students,
you may want to come up with your
own appropriate definitions for the
terms terms used in this lesson to share
with your learners. These terms include:
point of view, context, bias, frame of
reference, perspective, as well as
primary and secondary sources.
Students will need some background
on the water quality issues at the heart
of this lesson:
lead contamination in water
spent nuclear fuel storage
GREATLAKESNOW.ORG/EDUCATION
— MICHIGANLEARNING.ORG
This video from PBS LearningMedia
on nuclear waste can help students
understand the basic science needed
to better appreciate the issues with
nuclear fuel. This series of three short
videos from PBS LearningMedia can
clarify the chemistry behind the lead-
poisoned water in Flint, MI.
Since students will be observing the
conversations that policymakers are
having around an issue, it will be
important for them to evaluate what is
being said, how it is being said, and
why it is being said. So, review the
framework of Claim-Evidence-
Reasoning (CER) so that they can spot
the CERs used by different sources.
Finally, as students learn about this
topic, they'll be honing skills in literacy,
communication, and research. They'll
work to understand multiple sides of
an issue, separate fact from opinion,
and formulate an informed well-
rounded perspective on an issue. As
they prepare for a Pinwheel Discussion,
they'll need to learn questions to ask to
help them understand others as they
talk and listen in their discussions.
Questions like these are known as
perspective-seeking questions , and
they include questions intended to:
clarify :
"what do you mean by that?"
understand :
"how did you come to that
conclusion?"
invite :
"have you considered...?"
— 3
 GREAT LAKES LEARNING • EPISODE 1030
LESSON LAUNCH
A. Warm Up
The warm up is intended to be
structured as teacher-facilitated, whole-
group student discussion activities.
Begin by engaging students in a
thought experiment to consider some
birds looking into a castle through a
colorful stained-glass window:
1. Ask students what the birds would
observe. Then solicit a few responses.
2. Ask students how the birds would
describe the inside of the castle.
Then solicit a few responses.
3. Ask students why the birds would
describe the castle that way. Then
solicit a few responses.
4. Help students to make the
connection between the vantage
point from which each bird sees the
inside of the castle (e.g., that they
each may be looking through
different colored sections of stained
glass) and what they would notice (a
different perspective of the same
castle).
5. Point out that until the birds
consider another viewpoint, they'll
only see the castle in a singular way.
Photo Credit: Great Lakes Now
GREATLAKESNOW.ORG/EDUCATION
— MICHIGANLEARNING.ORG
B. Bridge to Learning
After the warm up activity has
concluded, help students prepare for
the learning that is about to come.
1. Ask them to partner up one another
student.
2. Tell all students that on the count of
three, they each are going to quickly
snap their fingers five times on one
hand and then air draw a capital
letter F on their own forehead so
that their partner sees it.
3. Countdown 3, 2, 1...go!
4. After students complete the activity,
ask for a show of hands: how many
people saw their partner draw the
letter F correctly? How many
backwards?
5. Have a few student pairs share out
what they observed and discuss the
responses.
6. Help students to notice that they
have to draw the letter with their
partner's perspective in mind, not
their own. Then
7. Give everyone another attempt to
draw the letter F on their forehead.
8. Ask students to talk with their
partner and define " perspective "
9. Solicit ideas and discuss possible
definitions with the entire group
until you arrive at a workable one.
C. Background Information Notes
Explain that these activities we just did
are intended to draw student attention
to the ideas of perspective and point of
view. At this point in the lesson, you
can directly provide students
additional notes and watch the video
clips included in the Teacher
Background Information connecting
it to the warm up activities.
— 4
 GREAT LAKES LEARNING • EPISODE 1030
ACTIVITY 1: WATCH A GREAT LAKES NOW SEGMENT
This activity is a video discussion of a
Great Lakes Now episode segment.
First, inform students that they will be
watching a video from Great Lakes Now
that discusses water quality issues from
the perspectives of multiple people.
During the video they need to jot down
4 things they took away from watching
using the 4 Notes Summary Protocol .
Then, if students are not already
familiar, introduce them to the 4 Notes
Summary Protocol, which they will use
after they finish watching the video,
where they write down one of each of
the following notes:
Oooh! (something that was
interesting)
Aaah! (something that was an ah-ha
moment)
Hmmm… (something that left them
wanting to know more)
Huh? (a question they have
afterward)
Next, have students watch this segment
from episode 1030 of Great Lakes Now
called, Political Blind Date .
Last, have students complete their
individual 4 Notes Summary and then
discuss those in groups of 3-4 students.
Teaching Tip: Use the Student
Handouts to help students organize
their thinking in writing around
each of the lesson protocols.
GREATLAKESNOW.ORG/EDUCATION
— MICHIGANLEARNING.ORG
Post-Video Discussion
After the groups have had time to go
over their 4 Notes Summaries, invite a
handful of students to share out some
of their notes, eliciting at least 1-2 of
each of the 4 Notes and listing those
somewhere for the whole group to see.
Ask students to turn back and talk with
their groups to make connections
between the video and what they did
in the warm up activities, with the
discussion of the birds looking in the
castle window and drawing the letter F
on their foreheads, asking them:
How is what we saw in the video
related to our warm up activities?
After giving the groups some time to
talk, bring the whole group back
together for a shareout and discussion
of ideas.
In this culminating discussion, the goal
is to help students make connections
between the perspectives expressed on
the issues in the episode and how
those perspectives are shaped, just like
how perspective was in the warm up.
Once the discussion finishes, have each
student write a " Sum It Up " statement
in their notebooks. This is a single
sentence that captures the big idea of
what was just learned.
Have 2-3 students share out their Sum
It Up statements before concluding
this activity.
— 5
 GREAT LAKES LEARNING • EPISODE 1030
ACTIVITY 2: READ ABOUT THE ISSUES
This activity aims to provide students a
better understanding of the two water-
quality issues at the heart of this lesson:
lead contamination in Flint Michigan's
drinking water and the potential
storage of nuclear waste in Ontario near
Lake Huron.
They will read about these two issues to
gain additional information and
perspective on them with the goal of
reading about each to make text-to-text
connections as they study these issues.
In this activity, students will use the
Three Reads Protocol for analyzing
and discussing the information in each
article with a partner. Afterward, they
will use the Compare and Connect
Protocol for analyzing and discussing
the perspectives of the two articles
together in a group.
First, distribute the articles entitled
" Debate continues over long-term
storage of nuclear waste in the Great
Lakes " by Andrew Reeves and " Flint
families welcome water crisis
charges, seek healing " by the
Associated Press, both from Great
Lakes Now. G ive students time
individually to read each article, and
ask them to jot down 3 things they
learned from each article in their notes.
Then, have students pair up with a
partner to separately discuss each
article using the Three Reads Protocol .
GREATLAKESNOW.ORG/EDUCATION
— MICHIGANLEARNING.ORG
Next, have two student pairs join up to
form a small group and discuss the
perspectives of the two articles using
the Compare and Connect Protocol .
Last, have each group come up with a
summary statement about the most
important points from their discussion
and ask for a volunteer in each group
to share that most important point
with the whole group. As student
groups share out their most important
point, record their ideas on the board
and have students copy the list of
student ideas down into their
notebooks. Finally, have groups discuss
one last question from the articles:
How did your perspective on the
issue change because of reading?
Inform them that they will be using
some of the information from these
articles and their discussion in a later
activity called a Pinwheel Discussion .
Further Learning on the Subject:
Access this additional special documentary,
entitled, "The Door Flint Opened:
America’s Drinking Water Crisis" from
Great Lakes Now as an optional extension
activity for students to do further research
by watching and discussing it in groups
using the Think Pair Square Protocol as
part of their research.
Teaching Tip: Use the Student
Handouts to help students organize
their thinking in writing around
each of the lesson protocols.
— 6
 GREAT LAKES LEARNING • EPISODE 1030

ACTIVITY 3: PINWHEEL DISCUSSION

Perspective #1 Perspective #2 First, create groups of 3-4 students for
each perspective be represented (e.g.,
citizen, leader, etc.) Some pinwheels
also have a group called Provocateurs
who stimulate the discussion and
prompt further consideration, but it is
not necessary to have this group.

Perspective #3 Perspective #4
Then, decide which issue which groups
Image Credit: Gary Abud, Jr.
will discuss (nuclear waste or water)
and give each group time to research
The purpose of this activity is for
the topic and their perspective on it so
students to engage in a Pinwheel
that they can be prepared to discuss
Discussion about an issue from multiple
and summarize their point of view.
perspectives by designating each
Advise them to prepare some main
student in the discussion to represent a
points, questions, or examples to raise.
single perspective on the issue.
They should reference any primary and
secondary sources in their research.
Four chairs are arranged facing each
other in the middle, one for each
Next, each group decides who will
speaker representing each perspective.
speak for their perspective. Speakers sit
Other students who represent the same
facing each other in a square (see
perspective—but who will participate in
diagram) with group members behind
the discussion at a later time—sit near
them. The teacher (or Provocateur)
their perspective's active speaker to
starts off with a general question which
observe. The chairs fan out in multiple
the other speakers discuss. Everyone
directions like the shape of a pinwheel.
should stay true to the viewpoint their
group represents in discussion. The
Pinwheel Discussions can be held to
conversation does not need to stay on
help individuals consider different
that question the whole time (e.g., it is
perspectives on an issue and discuss it
not a Q&A format). After some time,
from multiple points of view. Unlike a
students rotate speakers for each
debate, the perspectives in this format
perspective to carry on the discussion.
may not directly oppose one another.

Last, allow time at the end of the

Teaching Tips: Encourage students to use the CER
Protocol handout to plan their discussion. Then, during
the discussion, they can jot down notes (both when
speaking or observing) so that they can respond
accurately to what they heard when it's their turn to
speak, and reflect on it after the discussion.
Pinwheel for all students to reflect on
the discussion, focusing on what what
well, what did not go well, and what
they learned from the process of
considering other perspectives.

GREATLAKESNOW.ORG/EDUCATION — 7
— MICHIGANLEARNING.ORG
 GREAT LAKES LEARNING • EPISODE 1030
LESSON CLOSURE
After the conclusion of all the activities,
help students to make connections*
between everything they did in the
lesson and what they learned overall by:
A. Compare and Connect
Initiate a discussion with students
where you ask them to identify ways in
which each activity corresponded to the
other activities. This could be in terms
of what was done, what was learned, or
specific moments of the activities that
corresponded with others. Guide
students to refer to each other’s
thinking by asking them to make
connections between specific features
of the activities and how they all
connect to the big ideas of the lesson.
Make sure to invite students to connect
other students' responses to their own
ideas in the discussion.
B. Lesson Synthesis
Give students individual thinking and
writing time in their notebooks to
synthesize their learning, by jotting
down their own reflections using the
Word, Phrase, Sentence Protocol.
In the Word-Phrase-Sentence Protocol,
students write:
A word that they thought was most
important from the lesson
A phrase that they would like to
remember
A sentence that sums up what they
learned in the lesson
GREATLAKESNOW.ORG/EDUCATION
— MICHIGANLEARNING.ORG
C. Cool Down
After the individual synthesis is
complete, students should share their
synthesis with a partner.
After sharing their syntheses, have
students complete a 3, 2, 1 Review for
the lesson with their partner, recording
in their notebooks or, optionally, on
exit ticket slips to submit, each of the
following:
3 things that they liked or learned
2 ideas that make more sense now
1 question that they were left with
Invite several students to share aloud
what they wrote in either the synthesis
or 3, 2, 1 Review.
Lastly, ask one student volunteer to
summarize what has been heard from
the students as a final summary of
student learning.
*Optionally here, the teacher can
revisit the learning objectives and
make connections more explicit for
students.
Teaching Tip: Use the Student
Handouts to help students organize
their thinking in writing around
each of the lesson protocols.
— 8
 GREAT LAKES LEARNING • EPISODE 1030
OPTIONAL ACTIVITY

FURTHER LEARNING:
FLINT WATER CRISIS

This optional extension activity aims to

provide students additional research
information for a better understanding
of just what happened in the Flint
Water Crisis and why it mattered.
They will watch a special documentary
about the lead contamination in Flint's
water entitled, "The Door Flint
Opened: America’s Drinking Water
Crisis" from Great Lakes Now and
discuss it using the Think Pair Square
Protocol . In doing so, they will gather
additional information as part of their
research on the issue of water quality.
First, have students watch the
documentary and ask them to jot down
at least 3 things they learned from it.
Then, have students pair up with a
partner to discuss the documentary
and the points they noted from it.
Image Credit: Great Lakes Now
As student groups share out their most
important point, record their ideas on
the board and have students copy the
list of student ideas down into their
notebooks.
Inform them that they can use some of
the information from this documentary
and discussion in their research as they
prepare for their Pinwheel Discussion.
After the shareout is complete, ask
students to return to their groups and
discuss one last question based on the
documentary:

Next, have two student pairs join up,
standing near each other to form the
four corners of a square, to discuss the
documentary and what they talked
about in their pairs.
Last, have each group come up with a
summary statement about the most
important point from their discussion
and ask for a volunteer in each group
to share that most important point
with the whole group.
How do you think the experience of
living through Flint's Water Crisis
has affected the perspective of Flint
residents on water quality issues?
After giving the groups some time to
discuss this question, open up the
conversation to the entire group to
share and dialogue about how the
perspective of individuals is shaped by
their experience.

GREATLAKESNOW.ORG/EDUCATION
MICHIGANLEARNING.ORG
 GREAT LAKES LEARNING • STUDENT HANDOUT

NAME:
A Word, Phrase, Sentence Protocol
What is a word that you thought was most important from this lesson?

What is a phrase that you would like to remember from this lesson?

What is a sentence that sums up what you learned in this lesson?

3, 2, 1 Review Protocol
What are 3 things that you liked or learned from this lesson's activities?

What are 2 ideas that make more sense now to you?

What is 1 question that you were left with after this lesson?

GREATLAKESNOW.ORG/EDUCATION
MICHIGANLEARNING.ORG
 GREAT LAKES LEARNING • STUDENT HANDOUT

NAME:
4 Notes Summary Protocol

OOOH! AAAH!
Something that was interesting to you Something that became clearer; an "ah-ha" moment

HMMM... HUH?
Something that left you wanting to learn more Something you questioned or wondered

Sum It Up Statement:
Summarize your group discussion about your 4 Notes Summaries below:

GREATLAKESNOW.ORG/EDUCATION
MICHIGANLEARNING.ORG
 GREAT LAKES LEARNING • STUDENT HANDOUT

NAME:

Think Pair Square Protocol

Summarize your own individual takeaways and ideas

THINK

Summarize what you and your partner discussed

PAIR

Summarize what your group discussed

SQUARE

GREATLAKESNOW.ORG/EDUCATION
MICHIGANLEARNING.ORG
 GREAT LAKES LEARNING • STUDENT HANDOUT

NAME:

Compare and Connect Protocol

SIMILARITIES
Describe what you noticed that was the same in each

DIFFERENCES
Describe what you noticed that was different in each

CONNECTIONS
Describe how the similarities connect to the differences

GREATLAKESNOW.ORG/EDUCATION
MICHIGANLEARNING.ORG
 GREAT LAKES LEARNING • STUDENT HANDOUT

NAME:

Three Reads Protocol

Read it once, focusing on what was said, and then summarize

WHAT WAS SAID? your thoughts in the space below

Read it a second time, focusing on how they said what they

HOW WAS IT SAID? said, and then summarize your thoughts in the space below

Read it a third time, focusing on why they said what they

WHY WAS IT SAID? said, and then summarize your thoughts in the space below

GREATLAKESNOW.ORG/EDUCATION
MICHIGANLEARNING.ORG
 GREAT LAKES LEARNING • STUDENT HANDOUT

NAME:

CER Protocol

The idea, or ideas, that you think are true or important

CLAIM

The facts or data that support the truth of the claim

EVIDENCE

An explanation of how the evidence supports the claim

REASONING

GREATLAKESNOW.ORG/EDUCATION
MICHIGANLEARNING.ORG